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Breaking Our Chains: A New Response

The new relationship that we have with Jesus Christ affects the way we relate to Him with a new relationship and responsibility. But it also impacts our daily life as well by changing how we respond to stress or frustration.

I was thinking about this last Friday when following a few days of gorgeous Spring weather we experienced heavy rain all day. The wet cold windy days are preferably spent in front of the fire with your favorite book or in the bed. But since I was doing errands Friday it was spent walking from my car to the shops and back in nasty weather.

After getting drenched a few times the cold rain started to affect my mood. At first it was just frustration over getting soaked every time I got out of the car, but soon it became anger. Of course it was ridiculous for me to get angry about the fact that it was raining, but it is hard to think clearly when the weather outside is depressing.

While walking through a carpark in disgust Friday afternoon it suddenly dawned on me how childish I was being. Wish I could say that is the only time I became angry when things weren’t absolutely perfect, but it wasn’t.

Actually my response to the cold and rain fits in the old relationship with God which is centered on our own works. Instead of sharing my frustration with God I just kept it bottled up inside, which is why a simple frustration over being cold became anger and disgust. We are not created to keep our emotions hidden inside because on our own strength we cannot control them. They will just get stronger and more violent.

So walking through that carpark I began talking with God about the sinful anger in my heart. That instead of sharing my frustrations with Him I attempted to control them myself which began the Guilt (man fails God) and Grace (God shows love and forgiveness) cycle. The sun didn’t come out and start shining as I prayed but there was a peace in my heart. A part of me still looked forward to warm spring weather but I wasn’t angry about the rain anymore.

Over the weekend the Lord continued to show me situations where I experienced emotion (sadness, discouragement, frustration, anger). And instead of sharing those feelings with Him I just kept them inside. Not only is this a response based upon my strength instead of God’s but it also turns me into an emotional volcano that will explode over time. So I am grateful that the Lord brought the cold rainy day into my life. Because it reminded me that being in a father child relationship with God doesn’t do much good, if I don’t share my feelings with Him.